What in Hell is Happening?: Christian Faith Series, #4

By James Olah

Why do people like scary books? It gives them the opportunity to face their fears.

 

When it comes to death what do you fear? Do you fear you will not make it to heaven? Do you panic at the thought that there may be something other than nothingness after death? Does hell really exists and worst of all will you end up there? This is the ultimate fear that many face.

 

Let me help you face your fears about hell, by not only helping you understand what it is like, but also what God has established as the only escape plan. Don't deny your fears, but face them. Come and read.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Olah Books
• Release date: Sep 24, 2015
• ISBN: 9781516371655

James Olah

James Olah-Author James Olah has pastored for over 39 years. He started as a youth pastor in Lapeer, Michigan and then pastored in Port Huron, and Davison, Michigan. He developed an interest in family and relationship issues during his last pastorate. As a result he has studied and has written much on relationships. He has been an active writer on a relationship blog answering questions for both those who are dating, or are in relationships.He has helped many couples in premarital counseling over his years of ministry. James is now retired and lives in central Michigan where he continues to write.

Book preview

What in Hell is Happening?

A different perspective of hell’s torment

Christian Faith Series # 4

James Olah

OLAH Books

About the Cover Picture

Why did I use this picture of a window when the topic is about hell?

The Bible gives us both precise and cloudy pictures of hell. I used this picture to represent our limited knowledge of that place. Even though we know some of the horrors of hell, we don’t know the long term picture of eternal existence there. As you notice, you can hardly see anything through the window. With this book, I want to take principles and teachings of scripture to make it just a little clearer

Hell is an intense subject, and there are a lot of misconceptions about what will happen there. If you think that the flames of hell are only literal flames, you will want to read what James Olah has to say about another possible option.

As he develops the topic, he seeks to give a realistic idea that you can envision what existence will be like in this place.

What in Hell is Happening?

A different perspective of hell’s torment

Christian Faith Series # 4

James Olah

©September 24, 2015,

Revision October 15, 2020

All Rights Reserved

Copyrighted Material All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles for reviews

49,000 words – 127 Pages

Please acknowledge all quotes.

Direct permission requests to [e-mail]

The publisher is not responsible for websites (or their content) not owned by the publisher. Website addresses recommended throughout this book offer resources for further study. Websites are not intended in any way to be or imply an endorsement, nor does the publisher vouch for their content.

The author has italicized Bible Verses to help them stand out.

World English Bible (WEB)—Public Domain. It is part of the Online Bible and found at http://www.onlinebible.net/ © 2008

The Holy Bible, 21st Century King James Version (KJ21), Copyright 1994, Deuel Enterprises, Inc., Gary, SD 57237, and used by permission. 21st Century King James Version. It is part of the Online Bible at http://www.onlinebible.net/

Scripture from The HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011, by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission. All rights are reserved worldwide.

The Original Strong’s Greek and Hebrew Lexicon is part of the Online Bible and found at http://www.onlinebible.net/

Cover Photo: https://pixabay.com

ISBN-13: 978-1517270971

ISBN-10: 1517270979

OLAH Books

Contents

Contents

Introduction

Chapter One: Hell

Chapter Two: Why did a Loving God Create Hell?

Chapter Three: How Many Sins Earns Me a Ticket to Hell?

Chapter Four: Jesus Tells us About Hell

Chapter Five: Jesus – Our tour Guide of Hell

Daily Life in Hell

Chapter Six: Using Comparison to Understand Hell

Chapter Seven: Various ways of Suffering in Hell

Chapter Eight: Don’t be a loser

Chapter Nine: An Appeal

Reading Resources on Key Topics

Other Books by James Olah

About the Author

Endnotes

Introduction

HELL IS SUCH AN OFFENSIVE TOPIC that many don’t want to talk about it. I’ve had mixed reactions when I told people this was my next project. Each gave their view and opinion, both positive and negative.

As much as people are offended by the thought of hell, many sure don’t have a problem telling people to go there or to color their speech with the word. It makes the response of Yes/No more emphatic. That’s a H of a good/bad place. They want to deny hell, but they have a hard time getting it out of the vocabulary, and they do recognize that it is a terrible place.

Are you afraid to think about hell, let alone talk about it? What specifically bothers you about it? How would it affect your life if you knew, beyond a reasonable doubt, that hell existed? Would you consider your relationship with God more seriously, or would you say, That’s interesting, and then move on unchanged?

If you purposely didn’t take God’s warning of hell seriously and refused to make plans of where you will spend eternity, would it be God’s fault or yours if you ended up there?

Suppose that a category five hurricane was heading to your home. That means the wind velocity is over 157 MPH. The authorities tell you to get to a safe place if you want to remain secure. The police and National Guard come around, making sure people are leaving and assisting those who need help. You decide to stay. Your reason: I’ve lived here all my life, and I’m not leaving now. The hurricane comes and is very destructive with the rain, floods, and high winds. There is the total destruction of your house, and you almost drown, but someone saves you. Arriving at a safe shelter, you start complaining that the government didn’t do enough to keep people safe. Was your self-imposed danger the fault or the government or your stubbornness?

There are many biblical warnings about a destructive storm coming, and it’s called hell. You can choose to get out of the way, or you can wager that it is not on the other side of death. If you lose this bet, there’s going to be unpleasant hardships to endure. In the above scenario, people received a warning about the hurricane, and most chose to seek safe shelter. If there was a strong possibility of the reality of hell after death, would you do something to avoid it?

This book describes hell, as revealed in the Bible. It then seeks to go beyond the description of hellfire and expose certain realities that most have not sought to consider or define. It is the purpose of this book to cause you to think about the various possibilities of what the burning torment of hell is.[1]

Just as a warning of an imminent hurricane is about actual danger, I am not writing this book as a scare tactic but as an eye-opener to genuine danger. It is better to know the truth and reject it than to deny hell based on false perceptions you’ve acquired in life. I trust this will be an eye-opening book that will help you understand this vital topic.

James Olah

Chapter One: Hell

My motivation and reason for writing this book

OUR LIFE EXPERIENCES help form us into the person we become. Our experiences can cause us to become cynical and hide from who we are or become positive and mature and become stronger. Let me tell you about some of my life experiences that formed the attitude that motivated me, not just in writing this book, but also the attitude that shaped this book's tone.

After graduating from my ministerial training, I worked as a spray painter in a shop for three years. I was young, and I needed experience in ministry. I volunteered in my wife’s home church as a youth worker under a seasoned pastor's direction. I took the factory job to support my family.

In the second year in the shop, we got a large order and needed a lot of temporary help, so the company hired college students for the summer. They were all friendly, and we talked a lot. There is one person with whom I talked that made a lasting impression on me. I don’t even remember his name. We talked about God, and eventually, the subject came to heaven and hell. Remember, I had finished my theological training at this time, and as many who come out of school, ‘I knew it all’ and wasn’t afraid to talk about it. As we talked about hell, I became passionate and very emphatic about who goes there. His response to that conversation made a lifelong impression on me that I shall never forget.

In concluding my remarks, his response jolted me from my topic to how I communicated with him. "It seems as though you are taking great pleasure that I am going to hell" was the response that dropped me where I stood. Yes, I was winning the argument, I thought, but at what price? I have since discovered that you never win an argument if you lose the person. You may stand firm on truth, but usually, the person only becomes more determined in their position. The result of that conversation is that this man’s response helped me gain a heart of compassion for those who disagree with me. I don’t back down from the truth, but neither do I seek to destroy a person when standing for truth.

Some think it is wrong to say that God condemns people. Notice, however, what Jesus included in His invitation to salvation in John 3:16, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." (NIV) He included love, sacrifice, condemnation, and a message of hope and how to secure acceptance with God. If love motivates God when dealing with a person in need of salvation, it certainly needs to motivate me. This verse also reminds me that the consequences of our sins also need to be discussed.

Our motivation in how we speak to others is a choice. My decision affected my discussions about heaven, hell, eternity, and God’s salvation and how I preached about it. I learned to look at people through the eyes of God’s love and concern. I trust you will hear this tone in my book, as well.

The other motivation in writing this book is that I want people to respond to the truth and not be held captive by lies. There are so many lies that people believe about hell. They base the lies to which they cling on half-truths and ignorance. When it comes to God and eternity, don’t fabricate self-serving beliefs to soothe your hearts and minds. We would be foolish not to use a source of objective truth about the unknown as we seek to decide our afterlife.

How do we know there is a hell?

THERE IS ONLY ONE WAY we can know about hell’s reality. The scientific method won’t work on exploring what cannot be seen or experienced. The method by which we can know about this place is through revelation. Someone with knowledge of that realm must reveal that it exists and the kind of lifestyle there. After all, if hell exists, someone created it, and that person is qualified to reveal the truth about it to us. Let me help you understand how revelation works by sharing a true story from my life.

In 1998 I visited Burma and Thailand on a mission trip. We concluded our trip to Thailand for a few days because of business. One afternoon I had time to myself. There were four of us in the group, and we all went our separate ways for a while. I decided to do something that afternoon when I was alone, which caused me to have recurring memories of that trip. There was a visit to a little secluded building, not far from our hotel. There were only two other people present. The person there put their hands on my body, which people don’t normally do. Do you know what I did?

How will you reach a conclusion as to what I did that day? Based on generalizations about where I was or how you might act in that situation, you could speculate about me. You might judge me based on how someone you know acted in a similar situation. Those who know me could base it on what they know about my character.

Even when people speculate, they may think that their reasoning is more accurate than my testimony of the actual happenings. What are some assumptions people might draw as to what I did that afternoon?

Did I go souvenir shopping and buy something very unusual? Did I spend the afternoon at the pool to swim and sit in the hot tub and then get a massage afterward? Was I propositioned? Did I meet with a prostitute? After all, Thailand has a reputation for rampant prostitution.

Do you know what happened? That which happened came to my memory often after I returned home.

The only reliable way to know what happened is to allow me to reveal the actual events of that day. I am the only one knowledgeable enough to reveal the activities of that afternoon. Here is what happened. I went to a tailor, and he was in the second stage of fitting me for a suit. I wore that suit many Sundays when I preached in the months and years to follow. I liked that suit and its fit. I had many suits over the years, but there is nothing like a tailored suit.

I told you that story to get you thinking that there are some accounts we can only learn from the person to whom it happened. This event took place so long ago you cannot investigate my actions. No one there would remember me. It was before video surveillance. To learn what happened, I must give you the specifics.

Now let’s apply the principles we just learned to our understanding of hell. What do you know about hell? People have all kinds of vivid ideas imagining hell. Just ask Dante. But what’s the truth about hell? Have you visited hell? There is no one on earth that we can question who has been there or can answer our questions with experiential knowledge about that place. Hell is not a place we can study and learn about by using the scientific method.

Does an exceptionally brilliant person has added insight into a place that they have neither seen nor experienced? Even intellectuals do not have the upper hand in determining if hell exists or not and what happens there. Great thinkers of this world have no advantage in determining how to understand or escape this place. If a person is loud and aggressive in proclaiming their message about what comes after this life, does her forceful presentation make her right? Even if a person is adamant in his devotion to his claim, does that make him right? Do you see that brilliance, loud talking, or assuredness do not have the upper hand in giving you details about the specifics of hell, how one escapes it, or what happens there? They all have only misguided theories and erroneous suppositions about hell. Incorrect ideas have infiltrated people’s instruction and thoughts because they have no experiential knowledge of hell.

Did you have wrong impressions about what happened to me in Thailand? What was your opinion after I revealed what happened? Some people may question me yet, but only their self-serving, vivid, and ignorant imaginations motivate them. Upon what kind of reasoning have you developed your ideas about hell? Are they based on the ideas of human reasoning or the revelation from the God who created hell? If God created hell, then He wants you to know about its existence as well as the correct exit plans so you can avoid it.

By what authority?

If we want to know what follows this life concerning heaven and hell and how to avoid hell and go to heaven, then we need to gain our knowledge utilizing a direct revelation from the One who exists in the eternal realm of the unseen world. Do you know who created hell? Do you know who created heaven? Do you know who